Trials Come, but Will Be Overcome

BY FERRELL GRISWOLD

Isaiah 43:1-7
MANY IN This modern religious world have created the impression that the Christian life is trouble-free and that it is a shame to suffer. They teach that if only a person accepts Jesus, then all his problems and trials will be over. As a result, when trials do come, the hypocrites soon fall away, while young and untested believers think that they are going through something unusual.

In I Thessalonians 3:4 Paul writes, "For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know." A faithful minister, you see, will warn and prepare his people for trials and conflicts, telling them that tribulation is a necessary part of the Christian pilgrimage.

Now that that's said, let's examine a passage that can help us understand this matter of Christian trials:

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall
the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee (Isaiah 43:2,3).

I. Trials Are to Be Expected

I'm sure that each of you who truly love the Lord have since the time of salvation had one testing after another. Your trials have come in the family, they have come in business, and they have come in other forms and ways. And when you share it with other Christians, you discover that they, too, have been put to all kinds of tests by the Lord God Almighty.

Inevitable. This is not surprising. Look what God says in verse 2, "When thou passest through the waters...and through the rivers...when thou walkest through the fire." He doesn't say if you do these things, or perhaps you will experience these things. He says when you pass through these thingsit's only a matter of time. In short, trials are inevitable.
 

Instead of promising us a life of ease, God tells us that if we have truly become a child of God, we will have trials, sufferings, heartaches, sorrows, disappointments and persecutions. For Christ wants to expose His soldiers to these hardships and fight a good fight, knowing that there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness in the end.

To fight a good fight requires loyalty and sacrifice. You pass through the waters with no bridge there to go over and no boat there to float across. You go through the fire and endure the heat. These trials are ordained and appointed of God for our sanctification. We would not dare have it otherwise.

Of various kinds. The child of God is not limited to a stereotype form of suffering. His trials come in various types. "When you pass through the waters," it says here, "and the rivers, and when you walk through the fire."

As waters, some trials chill us to the bones. As they grow worse and worse, we feel as though we're surely going to drown. As rushing rivers, some problems threaten to sweep us off our feet, causing us to lose our sense of balance. And as fire, some of our tribulations threaten to burn us up.

For that reason, we must never delude ourselves into believing that after we have gone through one trial, we will be able to handle all future ones with ease. Mark this now as the promise of the word of God: When one trial is gone, another will soon be coming and it will probably be of another sort. For we not only pass through deep waters, but through rushing current and burning fire as
well.

Repetitive. Moreover, our trials will be many times repeated. What we have in our text, I believe, is not just Hebrew parallelism. Hebrew parallelism is the form of writing in which a matter is stated once and then once more so as to make its full impact upon the readers. Here, though, I believe the prophet is really writing about the Christian experience. He is saying: you pass through the waters and then you pass through the rivers; you walk through the fire and then you encounter the flames.

So, you are not done with temptation. You may have successfully resisted a situation that tempted you to sin, but that doesn't mean that you can put down your guard against a similar temptation in the future. You are not through with your tribulation. Just because you were victorious in the last trial does not mean that you will not be tested again. Look at Job. One tribulation after another was visited upon him, each time leaving alive only a single messenger to bring him the sad news of his estate.

Ironically, this certainty of having repeated trials is that which will eventually reveal who they are that are the Lord's. Hebrews 12:8 says, "If ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards, and not sons." Perseverance is the final evidence of one's salvation, because only one who is a child of God is enabled by God to persevere through the circumstances, the trials and the afflictions that God had ordained for him.

II. Trials Shall Not Triumph

While trials will come into the life of believers, they can never destroy them. Reasons:

Union with God. First of all, however intense they may be, the trials that we face shall not separate us from our God. This is the promise: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you." Paul articulates this reassuring truth well in Romans 8:35-39:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Through it all. In the second place, note carefully the language that God uses. He says, "When you pass through the waters" and "When you walk through the fire"not when you go into the waters or when you walk into the fire and that's the end of it. You go through them.

God has not ordained these trials to be a hindrance to your Christian walk. If anything, it's through repeated tribulation that you attain spiritual growth. It better fits you for glory. So, there is no trouble so great, nor any persecution so terrible, that can keep you from enjoying the peace and joy of the Lordso long as you remember that God is there seeing you through it all.

By the way, the word "walk" in the phrase "when you walk through the fire" is highly significant. One has said that walking is the pace in which a person goes when nothing distresses or alarms him. You see, our confidence in God should be such that we know for sure that He works all
things after the counsel of His will and for our good. So, we don't run, we're not rushed. We just walk.

Divine grace. Our text further says, "they (the rivers) shall not overflow thee" and "neither shall the flame kindle upon (or scorch) thee." There may be times when you think you are hopelessly crushed by your trials. You are not. The rivers will not overflow you, God promises here. When you go through the fire, in fact, you won't even be scorched.

Remember those three Hebrew young men that were cast into the fiery furnace seven times hot? A fourth man like unto the Son of God was seen walking with them. And when the three were brought out of the furnace, they didn't even have the smell of fire upon them. The child of God, you see, is sustained by divine grace. And God promises that you'll be none the worse for all your troubles.

III. Assurances from God

God then goes on to explain why. He says in verse 3: "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."

His names. The first assurance is in the first title God gives to Himself. He says, "I am the Lord." The word there is Jehovah. "I am Jehovah." This means that we are related to, and have trusted in, the self-existent, almighty, unchangeable God. Because of our knowledge of this God and His relationship toward us, we acquiesce in His will, knowing that we are not the losers.

The second assurance is in the title "thy God." The possessive word "thy" there stresses that He is a covenant God. For God cannot be ours other than through a covenant. He is saying, "Before the foundation of the world I set my love upon you; I gave you to My Son, who would come and redeem you with His own precious blood. I am your God. I have chosen you. I have redeemed you. I have taken you to be my own."

God then identifies Himself as "the Holy One of Israel." Holiness, you know, is the attribute that comprehends all the attributes of God. The "Holy One" thus stands for the wholeness of God. He is saying, "I am pledging the totality of My being unto you."

Is He omniscient? Yes, He knows all things, our up-rising and down-sittings. So, He knows the plots that are hurled against us, and He knows those that would do us harm. There is nothing hidden from His eyes. And He has pledged to us this omniscience of His.

Pledged also is His omnipotence, His infinite power. He'll bear His arms for the defense of His people. We can list all of God's attributes, and they collectively give us the assurance that when we go through the waters, we'll not drown; and when we go through the fire, we'll not even be scorched.

The last name God gives Himself here is, "thy Saviour." To be true to this name of His, He is obligated to save all who trust in Him and to fulfill all His promises to them. As the Psalmist writes: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all" (34:19).

Precious to God. Verse 3 continues, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee." How were Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba given to the Israelites for ransom? Well, God redeemed Israel out of Egypt by bringing ten plagues against the Egyptians, including the killing of all their firstborn. Then, there was a time when Ethiopia and Seba went after against Judah with a vast army, and God rescued the Jews by supernaturally striking down the enemy.

In citing these precedents, God is reassuring us here that no matter how great the odds may appear to be against us, we need not fear. He is more than able and willing to come to our defense. We must wait for Him to do so according to His perfect timing, though. This is His way of building patience, experience and hope in us.

In closing, let me just ask you this question: Do you believe that the Lord Jesus died for your sins, thereby redeeming you from eternal damnation? If so, consider what Paul writes in Romans 8:32: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" While all things include trials and sufferings, they surely encompass divine deliverance in this world and eternal glory in the age to come. o

The late Rev. Ferrell Griswold was the pastor of Clairmont Reformed Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL.

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